


5 times the Avengers asked Clint to stay (and the one time they didn't have to)

by allofthefandoms



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Clint Has Issues, Emotional Baggage, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, References to Suicide, everyone else tries to help, lots of issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-13
Updated: 2012-07-15
Packaged: 2017-11-09 21:00:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/458337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allofthefandoms/pseuds/allofthefandoms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint still feels guilty about what he did under Loki's mind control, and pulls himself away from the rest of the team, forcing them to take drastic measures to get their archer back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 5 times the Avengers asked Clint to Stay

**Author's Note:**

> For a prompt on the kink meme I just had to fill. Please heed all warning and enjoy!
> 
> The +1 will come after I get back from my con!

1\. Bruce

Clint would have been willing to bet that if Bruce hadn't seen him trying to sneak out of Avengers Tower with a small duffel bag with all his worldly possessions at 3 in the morning, no one would have noticed he was gone.

“Clint, you don't have to leave.” Trust the ever observant Banner to see straight to the heart of the issue. Clint tried to shove by him without saying anything, but Bruce was insistent and immovable when he wanted to be, and he refused to get out of the way. Clint dropped his bag and his head.

“I don't know what is worse Bruce, the fear at work or the pity here, and I've decided I don't want any of it,” Clint said softly. “I don't quite know what I'll do, but I could always rejoin the circus.”

“But that's the thing, you don't have to leave,” Bruce pressed on, crowding into Clint's personal bubble, a painfully sad and earnest look on his face. “Trust me when I say you need your friends around you right now. I know better than most the pain of having to watch yourself do horrible things and having no control.”

“And what did you do, Banner?” Clint spat bitterly. “You ran away. You owe me the same choice.”

“But it was a horrible choice!” And then Bruce's hands were on Clint's face, tracing lines newly etched from exhaustion and over work. His breath smelled sweet, like the green tea he was so fond of, and Clint couldn't help but relax slightly under the soft questing fingers. “I don't want you to suffer like I did. You are already suffering enough.” Clint pulled away reluctantly and grabbed his bag. But he didn't head out the door.

2\. Tony

The day after Clint's encounter with Bruce a package comes with his name on it and nothing else. When he asks JARVIS to scan it to make sure it isn't some sort of secret villain weapon, he could have sworn there was a hint of a satisfied smirk when JARVIS told him it was harmless. Quickly disinterested, Clint left the box by his door. As he made his way to the most unused kitchen for food, he ran into Tony, who was lounging on the small table with a beer.

“Well?” Clint was disturbed by the glint in Tony's eyes. “What do you think?”

“Of what?” Clint asked baffled. Tony heaved a sigh.

“JARVIS, has he even opened it yet?”

“No sir.” Tony rolled his eyes and looked back to Clint, who buried himself in the fridge.

“Well, it's my bribe.”

“Bribe?” And there was Tony, pulling him around to face him gently but firmly.

“Bruce told me you tried to bolt.” Clint stared at Tony's chin, refusing to meet Tony's soft eyes. It was so unlike Tony, this warmth and steadiness, and it was far too intense for Clint in his fragile state, and Clint shook him off.

“Yah, well, I'm still here and not planning to go anywhere. So you can drop the concerned act.” Tony's grip turned into iron and his shove almost sent Clint to the floor.

“It's not an act, dipshit! You're my friend! I care about you! And seeing you wallow in unneeded and undeserved guilt pisses me off! Nothing that happened was your fault. It was fucking alien mind control, Clint! If anyone is to blame, it's Loki, and that sick fuck is locked away where he will never touch you again.” Tony puffed a long sigh. “Look,” He continued, voice soft. “I know you blame yourself, and I get that. I've been there. Go open my gift. Maybe you'll feel better.”

When Clint tore the box open, for a long moment he could only stare in shock. It was beautiful. Picking up the brand new bow, he marveled at the way the grip formed to his hand, the cool material strong and slip resistant. It was even lighter than his older one, and the lines were Stark elegant and smooth. He almost cried with joy.

3\. Natasha

“I don't understand why you're still here, Barton.” Clint had been cornered in the mess by three of his least favorite people in SHIELD. And all of them were glaring at him. It was the first time Clint had been on non-Avengers related mission since what Clint would forever refer to as 'the incident' and there were plenty of people who were less than happy to see him. But Clint knew he deserved every harsh word, especially from these three.

“You are a killer, a loose cannon. My husband and partner died because of you, and yet they let you hang on here like you're one of us.” A hand tightened around his throat and Clint closed his eyes letting the stinging words roll over him.

“You're a threat, Barton. Only kept around so you can be the Avenger's pet agent. One day you'll kill one of them and then they'll see.”

“You're just a circus freak Coulson decided to take under his wing.”

“Yah, and look where that got him.” Clint let out a tiny strangled noise. What had happened to Phil still made him shake and feel sick. Years spent fantasizing about the man had made Clint unusually loyal, and the fact that he had died in the attack Clint had lead on the Hellicarrier was something he could never forgive himself for no matter how many times he was told that Loki was the one who had done it.

“In case you didn't attend your debriefs, which I know you did, Clint had nothing to do with Agent Coulson's death.” Clint's eyes snapped up to meet Natasha's flint cold eyes. She had one hand on each agent's shoulder, and he could tell she was squeezing hard enough to cause pain. “He is dealing with enough without your...issues.” The other agents scattered. They didn't call her the black widow for nothing after all.

“Sit with me?” Clint had never been able to resist the truly open smile on Tasha's face, a look that he so rarely saw, that he didn't have the heart to say no.

4\. Thor

Thor never said it in as many words as the others, but Clint knew. Knew by the way Thor quietly watched him, and only told happy stories of his home whenever Clint was around. He knew in the way Thor never let him drink alone, and the way Thor went out of his way to include him during movie nights and team meals.

Part of Clint resented being forced to be happy, and one night he said so, thoroughly sick of Thor's hovering. 

“You would choose to wallow in your guilt until it killed you,” Thor said softly. “You are my shield-brother and my friend, and it pains me to see you thus.” Clint dropped his eyes to the floor.

“I would bid you not be troubled,” Thor went on. “But I feel loss just as keenly as you, and understand that it cannot simply be willed away. But be merry with us, if just for tonight.”

 

5\. Steve

Steve's hands were going to leave bruises on Clint's arms, but it was a little pain in the grand scheme of the pain Clint was feeling at the moment. His whole body felt molten with it, every breath more of a bubbling sob.

“Clint, stay with us.” The agony on Steve's face was clear despite the fact that his outline was going fuzzy, and Clint tried to smile. His teeth were stained pink with diluted blood and Steve, for a long painful moment, looked like he was about to cry.

“ 's ok,” Clint slurred. “I wanna go...” The ferocious look of sadness on Steve's face was the last thing Clint remembered.

When Clint opened his eyes, Steve is still there. His eyes are dark and his face is pinched, and he is still in his uniform, though the cowl is pulled back. Tony and Natasha are there too, dressed comfortably, but their faces are just as dark.

“You jumped in front of that blast, Clint.” Clint couldn't place the emotion in Steve's voice. “And then told me, when you were bleeding out in my arms that you wanted to die. You can't do that.” And then Steve was crying, tears smearing across his face. Unable to continue, Steve pressed a soft kiss to Clint's forehead and watched him until he had regained his composure.

“I am not going to lose any more people I love. Even if that means...” Steve bit his lip. “Even if that means benching you, ok? So get better and stay safe.”


	2. And the one time they didn't have to

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is! I'm sorry I didn't feel up to writing proper porn, but I hope you enjoy!

+1

They would send Banner to tell him they were throwing a party for Clint’s birthday. They would. 

“I want nothing to do with this, Bruce,” Clint said bitterly. “Today is not a day I will stand enforced togetherness.” Bruce looked at him, unable to keep his glee completely under wraps.

“But we have a surprise for you! Just come with us. If you don’t like it, we’ll let you go. I promise.” Clint rolled his eyes, but let Bruce take him by the wrist. There was a part of him that was touched that the other Avengers had done something like this for him, but more than anything, he really just wanted to be left alone. After what he had done, he really didn’t feel like his live was worth celebrating. But when he opened the door to the room where all of the others were, he thought he might just change his mind.

Propped up in the middle of a California king bed that had somehow replaced the couch was a figure Clint never though he would see again. Coulson was pale, too pale, and he had clearly lost weight, but there he was sitting up in bed with a small smile on his face, one arm outstretched. 

“Missed you, Barton.”

Clint felt himself go weak kneed as he staggered to the bed, finding his way more with his hands as his eyes began to fill with tears. The sight of Coulson, arm still in a sling and chest heavy with bandages pulls all the festering guilt and grief out of him and he became a blubbering mess. Every raw feeling, every bad dream, but then there were hands on him, stripping him of his heavy range uniform, wiping his face and sliding him into an oversized cotton shirt and then everything became Phil.

“It’s not your fault, Clint,” he said softly. “None of it was.” And then a feather light kiss was pressed to Clint’s lips and he pulled away like he was burned.

“I don’t deserve your love.”

“I am going to show you how wrong you are.” Clint was pulled forward, and a strong, lithe body Clint knew belonged to Natasha pressed up against his back. But there were other hands and bodies, Tony pressed against his left side, Steve to his right. Thor and Bruce were directly across from him behind Phil, and if it were anyone else, Clint would have felt trapped. But it wasn’t anyone else. It was his friends, people who loved him.

The first kiss was Tony’s, an open wet sloppy affair that was all teeth and desire and it sent a shudder right through Clint’s whole body. Tasha was letting her hands roam and Steve was gently tugging at his shirt, but Clint only had eyes for Phil and when he pulled him in for a real kiss, the world faded away into lips and skin and hands and mouths until everything whited out in blur of pleasure so strong, Clint slipped under.

When he awoke, he found that he had been lovingly cleaned and tucked into the bed. He and Coulson were in the middle, tucked under the single white sheet, and the others were sprawled around them. Tasha was curled around their heads, her hand on Clint’s shoulder by Tony’s head. Steve had draped an arm around Clint’s legs and Thor had his back pressed against Bruce who was right behind Tony. They were all a tangled mess, but for once, Clint didn’t feel like he wanted to run.


End file.
